An unfiltered, unfettered, unprecedented brown ale aged in handmade wooden brewing vessels. The caramel and vanilla complexity unique to this beer comes from the exotic Paraguayan Palo Santo wood from which these tanks were crafted. Palo Santo means "holy tree," and its wood has been used in South American wine-making communities.

The power of suggestion reigns on this label. It is an American Brown Ale, and does indeed pour very brown, with a lovely dark khaki head. We are told that ther will be vanilla and caramel. And there is, certainly present in the nose. But also, a malty note in there as well. Hops are minimally present in the nose. Then the flavor delivers on two of the three promises. There is vanilla. There is caramel (both the candy profile and the malt profile... which was really tasty). There is a nice balance of the sweet with the necessary bitter. I am afraid I cannot detect specifics in the hops as the dominant sweet profiles mask them from my palate.

And then there is the wood. Just don't get it. Wood flavor that is. I understand the concept of practical uses for timber. I just cannot taste much in the way of wood. And I really want to. I want to taste the wood, like oak in a well made white wine (even though I don't like that flavor profile anymore). Or more importantly like wood from an American Bourbon. I know this isn't aged in Bourbon barrels, and I didn't expect that. Just wanted wood flavor period. Didn't get it, so I have no idea what a Palo Santo tree tastes like.